Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
I applaud that site for putting our frequent mock drafts and continually updating it throughout the college basketball season. In my experience, it is among the least reliable sites for accurately mocking the drafts.
Moving the discussion here from the post-game thread. I expect Lively to go no matter what, high school rankings still carry a lot of weight at draft time and he'll go in the first round based off potential. Whitehead is gone for sure. Flip feels 50/50 at the moment or maybe 67/33 in favor of leaving; he had a great start but has settled into being at the level we expected which is really good but not elite. One issue for him will be whether he projects as a legit center at the next level or whether he'll have to be able to guard 4's. Proctor feels like he reclassified because he wanted to be in the 2023 draft, but he might decide another year would be good for him after his slow adjustment. Mitchell should come back but you never know, plus he overlaps so much with Mackenzie Mgbako (even down to their initials).
If we return Mitchell, Schutt, Reeves plus Blakes and Young (who still has his covid year remaining) that's a pretty solid core for the Duke OAD era. Three of them would be potential starters. Then add our five 5* recruits and I'm happy with that roster. I wonder who our leader would be, my guess would be Blakes and Young are captains. Getting back some combination of Roach, Proctor or Flip would put us in top-10 territory IMO.
With the arrival of Foster, I dont see Roach electing to return. I think the anticipation is that Foster will be handed the keys and learn on the go. And Foster is a fantastic looking prospect.
I think Jason alluded earlier that if Mitchell elected to return that the forwards room would be incredibly crowded. Even though Mgbako, Stewart and Power all have differences in their respective games, Mitchell may find it tough in a logjam for minutes.
I have no idea what is going through the mind of Proctor, but with McCain and Foster's arrival, I'm sure his minutes would see a little cap. Inevitably there has to be some attrition, either by declaring for the draft of transfer.
But Proctor was originally in the same class as McCain and Foster and IIRC he was the last one to commit. So he was already expecting to compete for time with those two. I agree that the potential exists for overcrowding in both the backcourt (if Foster or Roach returns) and the front court (Flip or Mitchell) but I've never been one to believe that an incumbent player is going to be scared off by an incoming player. If anything the incoming player would be the one who may change their mind, but then again all of these guys commit knowing that they're going to be fighting for playing time against other elite players.
Blakes's improvement throws another piece into the mix, he was expected to be a career backup but if he continues to improve then he will push for a starting role next season as well.
True that Proctor was originally in the same class with Foster and McCain, but his re-class might be more telling as to what his mindset was when he arrived in Durham. His plan may have already been established that he intended to forego at the end of this year, regardless.
Last edited by -jk; 01-05-2023 at 04:53 PM. Reason: Fix quote tag
I like Blakes a lot and have been pleasantly surprised by his play overall so far. But if we're in a position of putting Blakes in a starting role then we're in huge trouble. He's a role guy, and he's finding ways to impact the game by being disruptive and knock down occasional open shots (with an awkward release). Remember, we had Goldwire as a senior in that position in '21 and things didn't go so well for that team - not that I'm laying that at his feet. Goldwire developed himself into a solid role guy - but he wasn't a guard that you would put into position of distributing and scoring for a team with tournament aspirations.
"Just be you. You is Enough."
Funny how folks are elevating these HS players to be better than sophomore versions of the current players. Mitchell next year will be far better than he is now and could be better than any of those Frosh you mention for a good part of the season. There is a learning curve for these guys as this year shows. Mitchell is likely to go because he feels he is ready for the next step. I suspect he will be drafted in the second round at worst. Proctor is less likely to be drafted at all- as he does not yet have the strength for the NBA and has not shown himself to be a reliable shooter from deep. He can always go home to Australia and work on his game there or continue to improve in college at Duke or somewhere else. Time will tell.
Gimme a senior Roach or a sophomore Proctor over next year's freshman. Now, I'll be the first to admit that Roach hasn't improved much from this year to last. He's still shoot-first, and his shot isn't very good.
But I want the experience and the leadership of those two players.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
Worth noting that Proctor was rated about where Foster and McCain were in the few recruiting services that ranked him before he reclassed. So based on that and the fact that he will have had a year in the system and against college players, I agree. When the recruiting rankings are reasonably close, the experience can make the difference. That said, I'll be surprised if Proctor returns.
I have been as big a supporter of Roach as there is on this board. But I had hoped he'd be better. I was not expecting an elite passing season from him, but was thinking more like Nolan Smith's junior year. I will say that IF the team next year has better shooters around him, I think he could find that form. And who knows? Maybe he pulls a Nolan Smith and becomes a PG as a senior.
This question answers itself. As far as I can tell he's not on a single mock draft board, and I can't recall a player ever leaving early to play overseas.
Kids that choose the G-League (especially in place of college) tend to be super-athletic but raw and don't want to be distracted by academics. As far as I can tell Roach is neither of those things, and he would probably make more on NIL than G-league anyway.
Roach will be the PG next season.
Trinity '09
Or Enter the Portal
Roach's defense has gotten better. His advanced stats are pretty solid on that end.
But offensively, the kid just cannot shoot (I understand this is applicable to basically all of our guards this year). His FG is down early 8% from soph to junior! I understand usage is up from 17% to 22%, but my goodness! 8%!!!!! His assists per 100 possessions is identical and his turnovers are worse than last year (but better than this freshman year). Roach has improved defensively and I'd like to think his leadership too, but his offense is still 'meh' at best and arguably poor.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club